Microfiche Appendices A-G are included in parent application Ser. No. 08/328,133, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,314.
This invention relates to user-interactive network sales systems for implementing an open marketplace for goods or services over computer networks such as the Internet.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,424, to David K. Gifford and entitled xe2x80x9cDigital Active Advertising,xe2x80x9d the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, describes a network sales system that includes a plurality of buyer computers, a plurality of merchant computers, and a payment computer. A user at a buyer computer asks to have advertisements displayed, and the buyer computer requests advertisements from a merchant computer, which sends the advertisements to the buyer computer. The user then requests purchase of an advertised product, and the buyer computer sends a purchase message to the merchant computer. The merchant computer constructs a payment order that it sends to the payment computer, which authorizes the purchase and sends an authorization message to the merchant computer. When the merchant computer receives the authorization message it sends the product to the buyer computer.
The above-mentioned patent application also describes an alternative implementation of the network sales system in which, when the user requests purchase of an advertised product, the buyer computer sends a payment order directly to the payment computer, which sends an directly to the payment computer, which sends an authorization message back to the buyer computer that includes an unforgeable certificate that the payment order is valid. The buyer computer then constructs a purchase message that includes the unforgeable certificate and sends it to the merchant computer. When the merchant computer receives the purchase request it sends the product to the buyer computer, based upon the pre-authorized payment order.
In one aspect, the invention provides a network-based sales system that includes at least one buyer computer for operation by a user desiring to buy a product, at least one merchant computer, and at least one payment computer. The buyer computer, the merchant computer, and the payment computer are interconnected by a computer network. The buyer computer is programmed to receive a user request for purchasing a product, and to cause a payment message to be sent to the payment computer that comprises a product identifier identifying the product. The payment computer is programmed to receive the payment message, to cause an access message to be created that comprises the product identifier and an access message authenticator based on a cryptographic key, and to cause the access message to be sent to the merchant computer. The merchant computer is programmed to receive the access message, to verify the access message authenticator to ensure that the access message authenticator was created using the cryptographic key, and to cause the product to be sent to the user desiring to buy the product.
The invention provides a simple design architecture for the network sales system that allows the merchant computer to respond to payment orders from the buyer computer without the merchant computer having to communicate directly with the payment computer to ensure that the user is authorized to purchase the product and without the merchant computer having to store information in a database regarding which buyers are authorized to purchase which products. Rather, when the merchant computer receives an access message from the buyer computer identifying a product to be purchased, the merchant computer need only check the access message to ensure that it was created by the payment computer (thereby establishing for the merchant computer that the buyer is authorized to purchase the product), and then the merchant computer can cause the product to be sent to the buyer computer who has been authorized to purchase the product.
In another aspect, the invention features a network-based sales system that includes at least one buyer computer for operation by a user desiring to buy products, at least one shopping cart computer, and a shopping cart database connected to the shopping cart computer. The buyer computer and the shopping cart computer are interconnected by a computer network. The buyer computer is programmed to receive a plurality of requests from a user to add a plurality of respective products to a shopping cart in the shopping cart database, and, in response to the requests to add the products, to send a plurality of respective shopping cart messages to the shopping cart computer each of which includes a product identifier identifying one of the plurality of products. The shopping cart computer is programmed to receive the plurality of shopping cart messages, to modify the shopping cart in the shopping cart database to reflect the plurality of requests to add the plurality of products to the shopping cart, and to cause a payment message associated with the shopping cart to be created. The buyer computer is programmed to receive a request from the user to purchase the plurality of products added to the shopping cart and to cause the payment message to be activated to initiate a payment transaction for the plurality of products added to the shopping cart.
In another aspect, the invention features a network-based link message system that includes at least one client computer for operation by a client user and at least one server computer for operation by a server user. The client computer and the server computer are interconnected by a computer network. The client computer is programmed to send an initial link message to the server computer. The server computer is programmed to receive the initial link message from the client computer and to create, based on information contained in the initial link message, a session link message that encodes a state of interaction between the client computer and the server computer. The session link message includes a session link authenticator, computed by a cryptographic function of the session link contents, for authenticating the session link message. The server computer is programmed to cause the session link message to be sent to the client computer. The client computer is programmed to cause the session link message to be sent to a computer in the network that is programmed to authenticate the session link message by examining the session link authenticator and that is programmed to respond to the session link message based on the state of the interaction between the client computer and the server computer.
In another aspect, the invention features a network-based sales system that includes a merchant database having a plurality of digital advertisements and a plurality of respective product fulfillment items, at least one creation computer for creating the merchant database, and at least one merchant computer for causing the digital advertisements to be transmitted to a user and for causing advertised products to be transmitted to the user. The creation computer and the merchant computer are interconnected by a computer network. The creation computer is programmed to create the merchant database, and to transmit the digital advertisements and the product fulfillment items to the merchant computer. The merchant computer is programmed to receive the digital advertisements and product fulfillment items, to receive a request for a digital advertisement from a user, to cause the digital advertisement to be sent to the user, to receive from the user an access message identifying an advertised product, and to cause the product to be sent to the user in accordance with a product fulfillment item corresponding to the product.
In another aspect, the invention features a hypertext statement system that includes a client computer for operation by a client user and one or more server computers for operation by a server user. The client computer and the server computers are interconnected by a computer network. At least one of the server computers is programmed to record purchase transaction records in a database. Each of the purchase transaction records includes a product description. The server computer is programmed to transmit a statement document that includes the purchase transaction records to the client computer. The client computer is programmed to display the product descriptions, to receive a request from the client user to display a product corresponding to a product description displayed by the client computer, and to cause a product hypertext link derived from a purchase transaction record to be activated. At least one of the server computers is programmed to respond to activation of the product hypertext link by causing the product to be sent to the client computer.
In another aspect, the invention features a network payment system that includes at least one buyer computer for operation by a user desiring to buy a product and at least one payment computer for processing payment messages from the buyer computer. The buyer computer and the payment computer are interconnected by a computer network. The buyer computer is programmed to cause a payment message to be sent to the payment computer. The payment message includes a product identifier identifying the product that the user desires to buy. The payment computer is programmed to receive the payment message, to cause an access message to be created to enable the user to access the product, and to record a purchase transaction record in the settlement database. The buyer computer is programmed to cause a request for purchase transaction records to be sent to the payment computer. The payment computer is programmed to receive the request for purchase transaction records and to cause a document derived from the purchase transaction records to be sent to the buyer computer.